May 20, 2014

Morels? I Don't Get It...

Help me understand.

Most of my fishing acquaintances are "outdoorsy" by default. This time of year, like many others before it, social media lights up with post after post, picture after picture, of many of these friends taking to the woods and foraging for morels (mushrooms). As more city than country, I have no idea what these taste like that make people chase them down so feverishly...because they certainly don't look like much. I've heard the French create fancy-pants recipes with them, but then again, they also serve snails...

17 comments:

They just have a fantastic flavor, far better than the mushrooms you buy at the store. They add great flavor to any dish. They're available for just a few weeks in spring and very difficult to grow commercially. They are a combination of seasonal delicacy and rite of spring. It's one of the first spring activities after all the snow is gone that gets out in the woods and possibly very lost. It takes some experience to know where to find them. Some years you find a lot, some years not so much, and one parcel of forest may be loaded with them while a seeming identical parcel is empty. It's the thrill of the hunt without shooting anything, and a delicious reward. There's also very similar looking poisonous mushrooms that grow right next to them, so there's a measure of roulette to the endeavor- nothing says grizzled outdoorsman like surviving 20 years of your own foraging.

I understand that sliced and fried in butter, they are awesome. I've found 2 on my 5 acres in the last 10 years, but hesitate to eat them. Not that confident. If there hadn't been so much info out in blogdom about them, I would never have even noticed them.

They taste good but one thing that bothers me is that they are not mushrooms. Mushroom are division basidiomycota where morels are division ascomycota. It as bad to me as posing with a rod over the shoulders.

I prefer chanterelles. In the high country west of Boulder, there's an awesome cirque lake filled with brookies and cutthroats. Kept my last 2 larger-than-pan-size cutts and was hiking out when I passed a small meadow absolutely orange with chanterelles. They have a faint aroma of apricots when fresh. Best. Dinner. Ever.

bolder_in_boulder , not sure you'll see this message, but let's forage and tenkara this summer if you're up for it. I spent a good amount of time foraging in the mountains West of here last year. We didn't find the true chanterelles last year, just the minor ones with almost no flavor. But, did get our share of boletes and some others. Get in touch with me on facebook or our general email address. - Daniel at Tenkara USA